Queen of Marble
by RegalStarlight
Summary: It's an ordinary day in Storybrooke, and that means the town is once again under attack. When Emma's life is put in danger, Regina makes an impulsive, split-second decision to save her.


It was an ordinary day in Storybrooke, and as such, the whole town was in chaos. From the moment Grumpy ran into Granny's Diner that morning, screaming that the town was under attack, another endless cycle of heroes fighting villains began.

Regina chuckled under her breath. Who would ever have thought that she, of all people, the Evil Queen, would be standing side-by-side with the Charmings, fighting to protect the people of this town? Who would ever have thought that the evilest of them all would one day be one of the heroes? And yet here she was, and had been for so long that sometimes, it almost seemed normal.

She exchanged a glance with Emma, and the two of them shot out a blast of magic in unison. But one moment their enemy was in front of them, and the next, he was gone. Only a puff of smoke remained, along with a brick wall that crumbled as the two women's magic collided with it. Dropping their hands, they hurried backwards to get away from the falling bricks. Emma glanced from Regina to her parents, sighing with relief to see that they were all okay. But where had their attacker gone?

Regina spun around in panic and saw the curse coming just a moment before it hit. Not enough time to stop it, but enough time to throw herself in front of it, knocking Emma out of the way. A jet of angry light hit her squarely in the chest. She turned her head for a moment and saw the other woman's mouth hanging open, her eyes wide with shock. She tried to speak, to tell Emma … tell her what? That she was sorry it had to come to this? That she would always save the Savior? That she … no. Because now her lips were frozen in place. Her whole body was frozen – but not frozen with cold. No, this wasn't ice magic, the sparkly-dressed Queen Elsa and her friends having gone back to Arendelle long ago. Instead, even her breathing grew heavy and slow until it ceased altogether, and her thoughts slowed to a crawl.

Had she always been like this, a woman carved from marble, trapped within her own body? In some ways it felt familiar, like a time long ago when she had sat at the king's side, adorned with jewels as cold and heavy as her heart. But had such a time ever existed? For all she could tell, this statue had always been her prison, and she had never moved from this very spot.

 _Your body will be your tomb,_ said a voice in the back of your mind. _And you'll be in there with nothing but dreams made of your own regrets._ She supposed this was some sort of karmic retribution, although what she had done to deserve it she couldn't quite remember. Something horrible. Her thoughts were too heavy and slow to recall more than that.

All around her, there was panic. She was vaguely aware of it, the awareness of someone who is half-asleep. She saw Emma pull herself to her feet and shoot a blast of white light at their attacker, throwing him backwards into the wall of a building, where he slumped to the ground, unconscious. Then there were voices, three voices all talking at once in high, panicked tones. She heard something about True Love's Kiss, and the thought of Henry broke through the fog like a ray of light. She almost felt like herself again, if not outside then within her mind. But then David was talking about someone named Frederick and saying True Love's Kiss wouldn't work.

 _Of course it wouldn't,_ she thought bitterly. _That would be too easy._

"Water from Lake Nostos would save her," said David. "But that's in the Enchanted Forest. I'm not sure anything in this land can help."

"The well!" said Snow. "Remember, the wishing well in the woods has the same properties! We can bring her back!"

But Emma wasn't paying attention to her parents. She had eyes only for Regina, slowly approaching her with shaky breath and trembling hands.

"You saved my life," she said, gently caressing the cursed woman's stony cheek and choking back tears. "You saved me … you … I can't lose you, Regina. I …"

Emma had never been a hugger, but she threw her arms around Regina's statue, sobbing. Regina's stony heart broke for her. _I did this for you, Emma. I couldn't lose you, either._

A few hot tears fell on the cold stone, and suddenly, Regina felt as if she was … melting? No, that wasn't right. She wasn't melting. She was morphing from marble back into flesh and bone. Her breathing returned, and her limbs, once frozen in place, moved freely again. Emma must have felt that the statue she was clinging to was no longer made of stone, because her head perked up, and her sobs faded into gasps of happy tears. The brightest grin Regina had ever seen spread across her face. Regina smiled back at her, a few tears of joy trickling down her own face.

"What the hell was that?" Emma asked in an astonished tone.

Regina knew the answer, but it was so bizarre, so impossible, that she could hardly bring herself to think it, let alone voice it.

"True Love can break any curse," she said quietly. "You saved me …"

"No, you saved me," said Emma. "You jumped in front of that curse, remember? You sacrificed yourself … I'd say _that's_ the act of True Love."

Regina laughed at the absurdity of it all. If someone had told her a few years ago that she would someday share True Love with the Savior, she would have referred them to Dr. Hopper. And yet here they were.

"We saved each other," said Regina.

"Yes, we did."

"True Love …" that was David's voice, and the two women remembered for the first time that they weren't alone.

"But that doesn't mean … they both have True Love with Henry," said Snow. "It doesn't have to be romantic."

"No, it doesn't," said Emma, and for some reason Regina felt a pang of disappointment. What was she thinking? Of course it wouldn't be romantic. But then Emma turned to her, suddenly shy and awkward. "But … I think it could be. If you want that."

Regina smiled, threw caution to the wind, and grabbed Emma by the collar of her leather jacket, pulling her into a kiss. Emma melted into her arms, softly kissing her back as Regina ran a hand through the other woman's long blonde hair. There was no burst of rainbow light, but that was okay. There were no more curses to break today.


End file.
